UFC 296 betting odds
By Rami Hanna
The final PPV of the UFC's calendar year is officially here. UFC 296 will hail live from Las Vegas, Nevada at the T-Mobile Arena where two championships will be on the line, a huge welterweight contender fight could determine the future, plus two rising stars look to add onto their records by ending the year off with massive wins in their book.
The main event of UFC 296 will be a welterweight championship bout as Leon Edwards looks to defend his gold for a second time this year, this time against Colby Covington. Edwards defeated Kamaru Usman to take the crown away from him and solidify himself as the new king of the division. This will be the third attempt for Covington who looks to finally become undisputed champion of the welterweight division after failing in his first two tries against Usman.
Edwards journey to the top was filled with obstacles he had to find a way over, from piling on a list of fighters he defeated like Vicente Luque, Donald Cerrone, Gunnar Nelson, Rafael Dos Anjos and Nate Diaz. It would lead Edwards to the biggest rematch of his career where in the final minute of the fifth and final round, he would land the head kick that put the lights out on Usman to crown the first-ever Jamaican-born champion in the UFC. He would go on to defeat Usman by decision, but now he will face another tough test as he looks to prevent himself from being a ragdoll to his opponent who is most likely in his final attempt at becoming the undisputed king of the welterweight division.
Covington may have been able to call himself the interim champion after he defeated Dos Anjos a few years prior, but since then it's been a struggle for the man that has dubbed himself as Chaos. He had added onto his six-fight win streak by defeating the former king of the division in Robbie Lawler, but when it came to his rival Usman, Covington couldn't stop the Nigerian Nightmare from holding up his gold at the time once again. Covington would go on to bounce back from his second loss to Usman by defeating his own former best friend in Jorge Masvidal. This would go on to stir up some problems outside of the UFC, but it would not prevent the promotion from granting Covington with his final shot at becoming the welterweight champion if he's able to successfully defeat Edwards to end off a crazy year that he's had.
In the co-main event, Alexandre Pantoja looks to make his first successful defense as the flyweight champion. Pantoja recently won the gold over Brandon Moreno, the former two-time champion who Pantoja has defeated three times in their career. Now, Pantoja will stand across the octagon from a man he's previously defeated before as he looks to show he is a true champion. Since arriving in the UFC in 2017, Pantoja has shown his elite grappling and underrated power is a curse to anyone that'll go toe-to-toe with him. After losing to Askar Askarov in 2020. It would be Pantoja who would rack up a four-fight winning streak over Manel Kape, Brandon Royval and Alex Perez before getting a chance to fight for the gold where he walked out as the new flyweight champion against Moreno at UFC 290.
Looking to avenge his loss to Pantoja, It'll be Royval who looks to put his three-fight winning streak to the test against the current champion. Royval, prior to losing to both Pantoja and Moreno was on his four-fight winning streak with huge wins over Tim Elliot and Kai Kara-France via submission. But after facing tough challenges in two former and current champions. It's been Royval who has continued to stay a contender in the division by racking up back-to-back finishes over Matt Schnell and Mattheus Nicolau to earn his first crack at the UFC flyweight championship. When they previously met, it would be Pantoja who walked out the winner via rear-naked choke in 2021, now the opportunity has come for Royval to redeem himself and finally realize his potential if he can shock the world and become the new flyweight champion heading into the new year.
According to DraftKings. Edwards, the current welterweight champion comes into his second defense as the favorite at -170. Covington has only been listed as an underdog in championship bouts, this trend will continue as he comes into this at a +145.
In the co-main event of UFC 296. Pantoja, the flyweight champion will make his first defense as the favorite at -190. His opponent, Royval will enter their rematch for a second time as the underdog at +160.
Also on the main card will be a welterweight bout between Shavkat Rakhmonov and Stephen Thompson in a bout that could lead the winner to a title bout. Rakhmonov comes into this as the biggest favorite on the card at -600. Thompson will come into this one as the biggest underdog at +485. Thompson is also 2-0 at being an underdog.
Paddy Pimblett returns to the octagon for the first time in over a year, he comes in as the favorite at -315 as he looks to remain undefeated. His opponent will be Tony Ferguson, who will look to snap his six-fight losing streak as he comes in as the +265 underdog.
The main card opener that was supposed to take place between Vicente Luque and Ian Machado Garry will not be happening with the bout being scrapped due to Garry contracting Pneumonia.
UFC 296 full betting odds
- Leon Edwards (c) (-166) vs. Colby Covington (+140). welterweight championship
- Alexandre Pantoja (c) (-192) vs. Brandon Royval (+160). flyweight championship
- Shavkat Rakhmonov (-650) vs. Stephen Thompson (+470)
- Paddy Pimblett (-330) vs. Tony Ferguson (+260)
- Bryce Mitchell (-218) vs Josh Emmett (+180)
- Irene Aldana (-198) vs. Karol Rosa (+164)
- Cody Garbrandt (-198) vs. Brian Kelleher (+164)
- Casey O'Neill (-198) vs. Ariane Lipski (+164)
- Dustin Jacoby (-270) vs. Alonzo Menifield (+220)
- Tagir Ulanbekov (-170) vs. Cody Durden (+140)
- Andre Fili (-170) vs. Luca Almeida (+140)
- Martin Buday (-135) vs. Shamil Gaziev (+105)
- Randy Brown (-260) vs. Muslim Salikhov (+210)
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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